- Acceptable Use Policy (AUP): An AUP is a set of rules that define the ways in which ICT facilities can and cannot be used in a business or educational institution, including a description of the possible sanctions that can be applied if a user breaks the rules.
- Adware is software that may have been installed on your computer by a remote computer, i.e. via the Web.
- Animation: The display of a sequence of images in a computer program or on a Web page to give the impression of movement.
- Application: (App)A computer program or a suite of computer programs that performs a particular function for the user.
- Blog Archive: stores all of your posts so that they will always be there for others to read.
- Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000030123 StartFragment:0000004167 EndFragment:0000030087
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): The ability of a computer to mimic human attributes in finding a solution to a problem..
- ASCII: Abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. This is a system that specifies code numbers for all the characters that appear on a computer Keyboard, plus other specialised characters.
- Assistive Technology: This term describes computer software or devices used by people with special needs to enable them to access the services provided by ICT, e.g. computer programs, Email and the World Wide Web.
- Asynchronous: "Not at the same time". A feature of asynchronous learning is that the teachers and learners do not have to be present at their computers at the same time.
- Attachment: Can be a File of almost any kind - a document file, an image file, a sound file or a video clip - that you can add, i.e. attach, to an email.
- Attribute: An HTML tag that controls how that tag operates. Audio Card: See Sound Card.
- Avatar: A graphical representation of a real person.
- Backup or Back Up: Used as a verb, to back up means to copy a File or Folder from your computer to another Storage Device.
- Bandwidth: The amount of data that can be sent from one computer to another through a particular connection in a certain amount of time, e.g. via a computer to the Internet and vice versa.
- Binary: A number system using base 2 instead of the usual (human) base 10, which is normally referred to as the decimal system. Computers use base 2 because they can only recognise two values, 1 or 0.
- BIOS: Acronym for Basic Input/Output System. This is a built-in ROM Chip on the Motherboard containing essential programs to manage the computer's input and output, which are loaded into memory during the boot process.
- Bit: The smallest measurement unit of computer memory or data transmission speed.
- Bitmap: A computer graphic or image composed of thousands of individual dots or pixels, each pixel being stored as a number.
- Blended Learning: This term normally refers to combining Internet-based distance learning with face-to-face Learning
- Blog:
- Blogger: Normally used to refer to someone who blogs, i.e. who regularly writes blogs.
- Bluetooth: is a technical industry standard for radio technology which facilitates the transmission of signals over short distances (up to around 10 metres) between telephones, computers and other devices without the use of wires.
- Bookmark: A bookmark is a facility within a Browser that enables you to keep a record of Web pages that you have visited and may wish to visit again.
- Boot: (verb) To start up a computer by loading the operating system into memory. Bot: Short for Robot. See Crawler.
- bps: Abbreviation for bits per second, the smallest measurement of data transmission speed.
- Broadband: A general term used to describe a high-speed connection to the Internet.
- Browser: A software package installed on the hard disc of your computer that enables you to access and to navigate the World Wide Web..
- Bulletin Board: A type of forum on the Internet or an intranet, where users can post messages by email or via the World Wide Web for other users to read and respond to.
- Bug: Not a nasty insect but a logical fault in a computer program which causes it to malfunction.
- Burn: When data is written to a CD.
- Bus: This is basically a set of parallel wires for connecting the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer to all other input-output devices.
- Byte: A measurement of computer memory or disc capacity. A byte comprises 8 bits.
- Cache: The cache contains information stored by a Web Browser on your hard disc, so that you don't have to download the same material repeatedly from a remote computer.
- CAI: Abbreviation for Computer Assisted Instruction.
- Card: In computer jargon, a card is an electronic circuit board, usually one which can be slotted into your computer in order to fulfil a specialised function. See Sound Card, Video Card.
- Case Sensitivity: Used to describe how a computer program, e.g. a Browser, interprets upper and lower case letters, e.g. in the name of a program, the name of a folder stored on your computer, or the name of a website letters in the right places.
- Cathode Ray Tube (CRT): An older type of computer Display Screen or Monitor, in which beams of high-voltage electrons are fired at a screen causing thousands of Red, Green and Blue (RGB) dots to glow in different combinations and intensities, thus producing the full-colour image displayed on the screen. CBT: Abbreviation for Computer Based Training.
- CDROM: Abbreviation for Compact Disc Read Only MemoryCEF: Shortened abbreviation for the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
- Central Processing Unit (CPU): Also known as the Central Processor. In a modern computer the CPU is a single microprocessor Chip or Microchip, an intergated circuit which carries out information processing and calculations. In essence, the CPU is the computer's "brain".
- Chat Room: A synchronous, mainly text-based communication facility, offering a Web-based environment where people either drop into or arrange to meet and chat at specific times.
- Client: A computer that receives services from another computer.
- Clipart or Clip Art: A collection of image files that can be embedded or inserted into Web pages, word-processed documents.
- Clipboard: A temporary storage area in a computer's memory
- Clock Speed: The speed of a computer's Central Processing Unit (CPU), which is normally expressed in MegaHertz (= one million cycles per second) or GigaHertz, (= 1000 MegaHertz).
- CMS: Abbreviation for Content Management System, a software package that makes it possible for non-technical users to publish content (text, images, etc) on a website. Also stands for Course Management System, a type of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
- CMY: Abbreviation for Cyan Magenta Yellow. The scheme used in colour printing, where inks of the subtractive primary colours Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are combined to produce millions of other colours.
- Collaborative Writing: A process that involves the creation and editing documents using Web 2.0 tools designed for use by multiple authors, e.g. Google Documents or Zoho Writer. Such tools look, act and feel like normal word processors, but simplify the process of sharing and viewng documents.
- Compatiblity: Pieces of hardware and/or software which are capable of being used together are described as compatible.
- Compiler: A program which converts programs written in a high-level programming language, i.e. as used by professional human programmers, into Machine Code, a language that can be "understood" by a computer.
- Compression: A technique which reduces the amount of space required to store data, e.g. as used to reduce the amount of space needed to store an image, an audio recording, or a video recording.
- Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI): A term used mainly in the business world. Implies a top-down, instructor-centred approach to teaching with computers and is closely associated with Programmed Learning.
- Computer Program: A set of instructions that the computer carries out in sequence to perform a given task. Programs are written in English-like programming languages (e.g. C, Pascal), and are then converted into binary machine instructions via a compiler or an interpreter.
- Cookie: A piece of information stored on a user's computer by a Web Browser when the user visits a website for the first time. Websites use cookies to recognise users who have previously visited them.
- Copyright: New technologies have raised all kinds of new issues relating to copyright - mainly because it has become so easy to copy materials from a variety of digital sources. We have produced a Web page at the ICT4LT site: General guidelines on copyright.
- Crash: A term describing what happens to hardware or software when it suddenly fails to work properly.
- Ctrl Key: The Ctrl keys can be found on either side of the space bar on a computer keyboard. They are used in conjunction with other keys as "shortcuts" for operations that would normally be carried out with a Mouse, e.g. Ctrl + S will save a file that you are working on
- Cursor: The pointer which appears on screen and is controlled by a pointing device, such as a mouse. The cursor usually has the shape of an arrow, but can also take other shapes: e.g. an I-beam in a document, an hourglass whilst an operation is under way, or the graphic image of a hand over a Hyperlink. See I-Beam, Mouse, Pointing Device.
- Cyberspace: William Gibson coined this phrase in his novel Neuromancer, first published in 1984. Today the word cyberspace is used to refer to the world of the Internet, more specifically the World Wide Web.